Alabama Football: Projecting Crimson Tide and SEC NFL Draft haul

In just over two weeks the SEC should dominate the NFL Draft again. Check out predicted selections for Alabama football and how well players from other schools will fare.

How well will former Alabama football players do in the NFL Draft? Have any of this year’s guys made the kind of declaring too early mistake Nick Saban recently discussed? How many players from other SEC schools and defending National Champion, Clemson will get drafted?

Those questions cannot be answered until the third and final day of the Draft on April 27. Even then, the declaring early debates can continue for players drafted anywhere outside the first round. The third through seventh round picks still have the tough challenge of making an NFL roster.

Predictions of what player will be drafted when, and by what team, will change thousands of times between now and the actual Draft. Every NFL team will go into the draft with a plan and several contingency plans to respond to rapid changes in available players.

At this point, Alabama football fans are most interested in Mock Draft predictions for former Crimson Tide players. After reviewing a few credible Mock Draft projections, a summary of the eleven likely to be drafted former Tiders, is provided below.

• Quinnen Williams – Quinnen is a solid top-five pick. As we wrote a few weeks ago, he should be the No. 1 pick. Best guess today is either Williams or Nick Bosa are picked at No. 2 by the 49ers.
• Jonah Williams – Jonah looks like a mid-first-rounder, somewhere between No. 11 and No. 20.
• Josh Jacobs – Jacobs is rated highly by scouts as perhaps the most versatile back in the Draft. But teams are going to load up on defensive linemen and quarterbacks first. Jacobs could go from late, first round to mid-second-round.
• Mack Wilson – Mack could sneak into the first round late. If not, he should go early in the second round.
• Irv Smith Jr. – Irv looks like a solid early-to-mid, second round pick.
• Deionte Thompson – Thompson could be an example of someone who left a big chunk of money on the table by declaring early. Then again, these young men must make a business decision only they can determine. Once considered a solid first round pick, Thompson is now projected as a late second or third round selection.
• Damien Harris – Most mocks have Damien as a third or fourth round selection.
• Ross Piersbacher – The projections for Ross are widely divergent. He shows up in mocks anywhere from the third round to not at all, as in undrafted.
• Christian Miller – Miller’s frequent injuries concern some teams. His talent is not debated. Right now, he looks like a third round steal for some team.
• Isaiah Buggs – Buggs should be drafted. Projections show him going between the third and fifth rounds.
• Saivion Smith  – Saivion is projected between the fifth round and undrafted.

If all 11 of the former Crimson Tiders are drafted, Alabama football could lead the way in the 2019 NFL Draft. Based on the seven-round Mock Draft, by DraftWire, the Tide will have more players selected than any other SEC school and Clemson.

With 11 players drafted, Alabama football would edge out Clemson with a projected 10 players selected. Closest to the Crimson Tide among SEC teams projected is Georgia with eight selections. Every SEC school is projected to have a former player drafted. If DraftWire is correct, of the total 254 picks in the 2019 Draft, over 50 will be former SEC football players.

Some Crimson Tide fans may wonder about former Auburn players in the 2019 Draft. The projected total is three former Tigers. Eight SEC schools are projected to have more players drafted than Auburn.

One Draft history tidbit for Crimson Tide fans. The only Alabama football player ever selected No. 1 in the NFL Draft was Harry Gilmer in 1948. We refuse to provide how many Auburn players became No. 1 picks.